


Nostalgia of Days Past

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: OT3+ Week 2018 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Loneliness, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 00:06:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16482323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Tendou arrives home after having not the best of days.





	Nostalgia of Days Past

Tendou felt a deep ache settle into his shoulders from spending hours hunched over a computer.  His own laptop had took its last wheezing breath just that morning, Tendou had left it with the schools IT but judging by the look the worker had given the duct-taped laptop and then Tendou, plus the solemn ‘I’ll do my best’ meant there was very little hope.  So Tendou had spent the rest of the day in one of the schools many computer rooms, trying to finish off his project. Constant malfunctions with his hand-me-down computer meant he was in the habit of saving all his work to an online server, so he had only really lost about two or three hours of work but it was still a pain.

 

Tendou didn’t have money for a new computer.  He had forced himself to focus solely on his computer graphics project so he didn’t have time to mourn the loss of what felt like a true, old friend.  Now in the comfort of his tiny off campus apartment he felt it keenly.

 

Kicking off his shoes, Tendou’s eyes found a pair that normally weren’t there along with a pair of missing slippers.  Slowly spiralling thoughts disappeared as he dropped his messenger back in the genken, surely to be scolded about it later, and skidded to a stop outside the kitchen where he had heard noises coming but had dismissed them.

 

The sight of Semi in the kitchen was a familiar one, if not a worrying one.  Semi’s cooking ability was only second to his fashion sense. Tendou would swallow down anything Semi put in front of him but he really couldn’t afford a trip to the emergency room, especially with who was standing next to him.

 

Semi was by no means small, in most groups his 180 centimeters would be considered tall.  Both Tendou and Semi had stopped playing volleyball with their schools after high school ended, but Semi continued to play regularly with a neighborhood group.  It meant he was muscular, heavier than Tendou even though Tendou had almost ten centimeters on the other man. Even with all of that Semi looked small compared to the man he was sharing the tiny kitchen with.

 

“That’s not right Eita.”  Ushijima’s voice was a deep rumble in the cheerful kitchen.  The tiny apartment had basically been falling apart when Semi and Tendou moved in together, they had done their best to make it as homey as possible.  Semi’s cooking and clothing might be horrendous but he was good at picking color schemes for rooms that made them appear open, clean, and comforting.

 

Tendou could see Semi’s shoulders tighten at the imagined slight.  Years ago, back when they were in high school and Semi had a chip on his shoulder the size of a cargo ship, he would have snapped something mean to Ushijima.  Years of working through his problems with inadequacies, imagined and real, meant that Semi’s first impulse was to act out but he slowly worked through it. Took a breath, his shoulders loosening as he shifted and made room for Ushijima to come closer.

 

“Then show me how to do it.”  Semi grumbled, tone petulant but body relaxed as Ushijima did step closer, thick and long fingers running softly, comfortingly down Semi’s arm before taking the offered knife.

 

If someone had told little baby Tendou that he would have not one but two loving and supportive boyfriends he would have laughed himself silly.  He didn’t possess the easy good looks or intelligence that Semi had or the natural skill and presence that Ushijima had. He was weird, inside and out and for a long time he had tried to hide that.  When he realized that wasn’t possible, that people looked at his bright hair and too-wide eyes and judged him unworthy even before he opened his mouth, he embraced his weirdness full heartedly. He realized he might have gone too far with it, purposefully provoking people into being nasty so he could prove to himself that no one was worth it.

 

In his first year at high school, the prestigious Shiratorizawa of all places, he had been an outcast once again but this time he hadn’t tried to fit in.  He tried his hardest to ostracize himself before anyone else could do it. He would never have admitted it when he was 15 but he was so lonely he could barely tolerate his own presence.

 

It became obvious that despite his many fine qualities, Ushijima was alone too.  The coaches treated him as if he was a god amongst mortals and teenagers did not really look kindly on that sort of treatment from people who are meant to be unbiased.  The upperclassmen smiled and patted Ushijima on the back but when the adults weren’t looking they were downright cruel. Ushijima’s entire focus was on volleyball and Tendou knew some called him oblivious to everything else, but he wasn’t an idiot.  Ushijima knew what was going on and it hurt him, the same way Tendou was hurting.

 

Then came second year when Semi was replaced because he wasn’t the type of setter Ushijima needed.  It didn’t help that at the core of him, Semi was kind and he took things to heart. He tried to help that first year who took his spot, but he was ignored and talked down to.

 

Tendou could still remember asking some of the other players to do extra practice with him, thinking that because they were second string they would be more willing to get some play time in.  They had snickered and called out rude comments, leaving him clutching his ball and feeling like he was eight years all over again.

 

Tendou reached up and touched the back of his head, the echo of a ball bouncing off of it ringing in his years even though it had happened six years ago.  He remembered turning, purposely keeping his body language loose like he was unaffected. Semi had stood there, face screwed up into a nasty look.

 

“ _ Wanna play? _ ”  Semi’s question had been no more than a quite grumble but Tendou had heard it.  Suddenly knew that the ball hitting him and Semi’s glare were all trying to hide the fact that he was angry but not at Tendou.

 

“ _ May I join you?” _  Ushijima had always been polite, even at sixteen.  Semi looked as if he had been contemplating throwing the ball at Ushijima’s face but thought better at it.  Ushijima would most likely catch it.

 

“That smells good, ‘toshi must have made it.”  Tendou said, mostly to break himself out of his nostalgia.  Ushijima and Semi had been his first real friends, it surprised him even to this day that they had willingly carried on that friendship beyond high school.  Even more surprised when they returned his feelings.

 

“You don’t get any of it.”  Semi deadpanned, swatting at Tendou’s wandering hand.  It had just been a distraction and Tendou used his free hand to swipe some cut veggies before dodging back.

 

“Don’t ruin your appetite.”  Ushijima warned, grabbing the spatula out of Semi’s hand before he could hit Tendou with it again.  “Semi did make the pasta.” Ushijima paused before his warm eyes met Tendou’s. “So I would be careful when eating it.”  Tendou laughed. Ushijima didn’t make jokes often, most of them went above his head but Tendou always encouraged the behavior by giving his best laugh.  Semi tried to scowl at the both of them but Ushijima’s small, proud smile proved too much even for his pessimism and he broke off into a smile.

 

They had all been alone in their own ways before they had met each other but they eased the sharp and broken edges inside one another, softened and healed.  Tendou wouldn’t trade this small, happy moment for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1, October 28  
>  First Meeting / "wanna play?" / old days


End file.
